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Worst supermarkets for campylobacter contaminated chickens named by FSA

Contamination of fresh shop-bought chickens has risen significantly new figures released by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) show.

The FSA has also named individual retailers for the first time, showing Asda to have the highest number of chickens contaminated with campylobacter and Tesco the least.

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Supermarkets 'working even harder to stop contamination'

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has defended supermarkets after new FSA testing found an increase in the number of raw chickens contaminated by campylobacter.

Today's figures are an important reminder that we have not yet found a way to prevent the presence of campylobacter in raw chicken and supermarkets are working even harder to find solutions to help consumers such as leak-proof packaging for all raw chicken and new roast-in-the-bag products - this is our top priority for food safety.

We are committed to continuing the search for a solution to campylobacter and we support the work of the FSA to get clear advice to consumers about proper cooking and kitchen hygiene.

There has been concern that implementing a solution to prevent campylobacter will mean the cost of chicken increases but we believe any increase should be small and in our competitive market retailers will work with their suppliers to do everything they can to avoid passing this on to consumers.

– Andrew Opie, BRC's director of food and sustainability

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